A look at emerging delivery systems for topical drug products.

The introduction of new topical drugs based on new chemical entities has become a rare event. Instead, pharmaceutical companies have been focused on reformulating existing drugs resulting in an ever-growing number of topical drug products for every approved drug substance. In light of this trend, soon reformulations may not be as rewarding to their sponsors as they are today unless they offer a substantial improvement over other formulations of the same drug substance and the same indication, namely improved efficacy over existing drugs, reduced side effects, unique drug combinations, or applicability for new indications.